LoL World Championship 2017 Quarter-Finals Review

23 October 2017 14:16

The 2017 LoL World Championship quarter-finals took place over the weekend, with four teams qualifying for the semi-finals after some high quality eSports action. Here is how all the events unfolded.

Longzhu Gaming v Samsung Galaxy

The first quarter-final ended up being a very one-sided affair, with Samsung Galaxy coming out as comfortable 3-0 winners in this best-of-five encounter. Park "Ruler" Jae-hyu led the way for the victors in the first game with a four-man killing spree. Samsung started pulling away from their opponents around the 35:00 mark before being reined back. However, they then finished the job in game one from 39:00 onwards to take a 1-0 lead.

The second match only took Samsung an impressive 29:45 to claim victory in Summoner’s Rift. They were in control as early as 7:00, never allowing Longzhu to get back into the game from this point. Previously unbeaten Longzhu were one of the pre-tournament favourites, so will be very disappointed with their performance. Widely renowned as the best team in the world, their 3-0 defeat was confirmed when Samsung, last year’s runners up, took the third and final game in 33:56. Longzhu were ahead by 27 at 8:00, but Samsung then charged into the lead from there on in to rightly take their place in the semi-finals.

SK Telecom T1 v Misfits Gaming

This quarter-final affair was much tighter than its predecessor, with SK Telecom T1 taking a narrow 3-2 victory. The current defending champions, SK Telecom T1 took a 1-0 lead with a rapid victory inside 25:16. Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon led the way with the largest multi kill (one) and largest killing spree (five).

However, Misfits then levelled proceedings in game two with victory in 26:16 – an immediate response to their disappointing opening. With 11 champion kills and 108 wards placed, they were on top for long periods and deserved to level the quarter-final.

The third game also went the way of Misfits, as they took a 2-1 lead in 40:38. They were ahead early in proceedings, destroying the first tower at the 8:11 mark. SK Telecom T1 couldn’t find a way back in this game, but importantly came back in game four to level things up at 2-2. Bae "Bang" Jun-sik impressed with the largest multi kill (4) and largest killing spree (7). In a topsy-turvy encounter, the lead changed hand many times. Misfits built a lead of 4,000 Team Gold at 28:00, but SK Telecom came back and started pulling away at 34:00 to square things up.

At 2-2, the all-important, winner-takes-all decider in game five went the way of SK Telecom T1, who were in cruise control from the very start. Misfits didn’t take the lead once in the 37:47 game, as the five-man SK team stepped up to send their team into the semis. Lee ‘faker’ Sang-hyeok, one of the best players in the world, played his part in the win which was richly deserved based on their dominance and supremacy in game five.

Royal Never Give Up v Fnatic

Royal Never Give Up prevailed 3-1 against Fnatic to book their place in the semis, taking the first game in 43:16. In a close affair where the lead changed hands several times, it took RNG up to 32:00 before they looked like securing victory without the danger of a comeback from Fnatic. First blood was drawn at 5:44, and RNG earned 85.1k of gold for their victory with ten champion kills.

RNG extended their lead to 2-0 in game two, despite falling behind in the early exchanges. After a slow start, they then regrouped and had the lead from 19:00 onwards, eventually confirming victory in 44:51. However, 2-0 down, Fnatic then pulled game three back to make it 2-1 in 54:49. They were in control for the majority, and impressed with 27 champion kills. Jian “Uzi” Zi-hao’s killing spree of seven was influential in their victory.

The fourth game saw Royal Never Give Up take an unassailable 3-1 lead inside 40:12. Incredibly, they were behind right the way thorough until 36:00, when they finally pushed their noses in front. Despite a late rally from their opponents, RNG found a way to win at the death, undoubtedly relieved to see off Fnatic’s challenge once and for all.

Team WE v Cloud9

In the fourth and final quarter-final, Team WE secured the last semi-final spot with a narrow 3-2 win over Cloud9.

Team WE got off to an excellent start with a win in game one. It looked like Cloud9 were going to take victory in the first 29 minutes of the game, leading from the off, but Team WE battled to take victory in what ended up being a close encounter.

After that tight opening, Cloud9 hit back with a win in 32:02 in game two to level things up at 1-1. In another tight clash, it wasn’t until the final two minutes that Cloud9 opened up a bit of breathing space between themselves and their counterparts.

Cloud9 also took the third game to a take a 2-1 overall lead, wrapping things up inside an impressive 24:56. They took the lead at 10:00, and didn’t need to shift out of second gear from there on in. Zachary ‘Sneaky’ Scuderi helped record this exceptionally quick win with both the largest killing spree (6) and largest multi kill (2).

Despite their disappointing defeat in game three, Team WE tied proceedings at 2-2 in game four, doing to Cloud9 what they did to them in the previous game. Team WE had the lead from right from the off, and never slipped from then on. It wasn’t until 21:00 they started to pull away, but with their team in impressive form, victory was wrapped up in 33:11 to set up a winner-takes-all fifth game.

That fifth game went the way of Team WE, as Cloud9 were brushed aside in 33:07. Cloud9 struggled in a disappointing game, as Team WE stepped up to the mark to secure victory and take their place in the semis.

Semi-Final Line-Up

The semi-final line-up sees SK Telecom T1 facing Royal Never Give Up on Saturday 28th October, before Team WE face off against Samsung Galaxy the following day, both best-of-five, to determine the two finalists for the final on Saturday 4th November.